


Be Brave

by Chloe_Hallow_Eve



Series: Black Paladin Lance [22]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Lance (Voltron), Blue Paladin Allura (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Angst, Langst (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 02 (Voltron), Sacrificial Lance (Voltron), Strategist Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-09 01:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11658966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chloe_Hallow_Eve/pseuds/Chloe_Hallow_Eve
Summary: 'I won’t disappear like Shiro.'' “Sorry, Keith.” Lance took a shaky breath, eyes squeezing shut. “I can’t keep that promise.” 'This is the one that answers many, many questions.





	Be Brave

The Mamora headquarters always sent Lance’s nerves in a frenzy. There was an eerie silence about it, with empty halls and dim lights. Lance always felt like he was being watched when walking to meet with Kolivan, which was frazzling to say the least. It didn’t help that, this time, Lance was already tense when they began to approach the headquarters. He hadn’t been able to get much sleep, too busy thinking of Shiro, stuck in the astral plane. They now had some idea of how to get him back, but it wasn’t foolproof in the least. It left Lance jittery long before having to brave the Blade of Mamora.

 

“Are you sure it’ll work?” Lance asked, watching Pidge pilot Green carefully.

 

“I don’t know, but it’s the best chance we have.” They replied, carefully maneuvering next to Red into the Mamora hangers. “There’s not many other options.”

 

Lance tapped his fingers on his leg, frowning. “There’s not, but if you and Slav can’t figure out a way-”

 

Pidge turned in their seat, allowing Green to settle on her own as gravity was added to the room. “Calm down. We’ll find a way. If we don’t, we’ll make one.”

 

“Number five is correct, Lance.” Coran smiled, clasping a hand on his shoulder. “Things will turn out well!”

 

Lance hoped so. He gave the two grateful smiles before exiting Green. Keith, coming out of Red with Hunk and Allura, jogged over to Lance and fell into step beside him. Lance shivered, feeling eyes on the back of his neck, and looked about. Only he and his team were there. Lance hunched a bit, scowling at the hallway. Keith, watching him, snorted and leaned in.

 

“There’s Mamora people hiding out everywhere,” he murmured, “for security reasons. It’s also just to watch whoever is entering squirm.”

 

“Are you serious?” Lance whispered back, shooting accusing glares around.

 

Lance almost shouted around him, but stopped himself when he noticed they were near the council room. He immediately fixed his posture, motioned for his team to gather together, then passed through the doorway.

 

Lance greeted Kolivan with a smile when he stepped into the room. “Sorry for the delay on this meeting, some things came up.”

 

Kolivan nodded. “There were complications on our side as well.”

 

“Did the Empire find a base?”

 

“Not exactly.” Kolivan turned to the screen, starting to type. “A group of rebels mistook us for the Empire and attacked. We were able to settle matters without much damage to either side, but it took longer than I would have liked. Now, I believe we were here to discuss plans on the nuclear reactor?”

 

Lance approached the screen, Allura and Coran on either side of him. Keith wandered over to talk to some of the soldiers standing near Kolivan, while Hunk and Pidge hung back. “Yep. Did you bring Slav?”

 

“I am indeed here,” the accented voice spoke as a green head popped out from under the control table, wires clutched in both hands, “and have considered the idea your green paladin proposed. It is a better idea than most, but I would need the nuclear reactor right away to study its habits and assess if using it to help bring Shiro back is possible.”

 

“So we need a plan.” Pidge commented absently, watching Kolivan bring up a 3D projection of the ship the nuclear reactor was on. “What about those rebel forces you were talking about? Would they be willing to help out?”

 

“It’s difficult to tell, but most likely.” Kolivan stepped away from the projection. “My men, when still stationed in the ship, were able to locate several weak points and blind spots that we should take full advantage of.”

 

Allura pointed to one of the red spots that appeared on the projection around the end of the ship. “This would have the least amount of security, around the storage. A couple of us would have to go in, find the nuclear reactor, and get out while the others distracted the enemy.”

 

Coran hummed. “We should have the castle prepared for a jump, so we can leave as soon as everyone is gathered.”

 

“Kolivan, can you and your men get some of us in and out?” Lance watched his team, plan slowly forming.

 

“Of course.” Kolivan nodded.

 

“Keith, Pidge, Allura,” Lance called, causing those individuals to look his way, “you three will go in with Blade members. Hunk and I will stay outside and distract the enemy, hopefully with the rebels. Coran will man the ship and keep it safe.”

 

There were nods from his team. Lance turned back to the hologram, noting all of the weak points, before turning to Kolivan.

 

“Now that that’s settled,” he straightened, gathering any stray thoughts and focusing, “let’s discuss details.”

 

* * *

 

When the team went to meet with the rebels, they expected to have to explain themselves to strangers. Kolivan put in a good word for them, but Kolivan was fairly sure they would want to interrogate team Voltron themselves. Lance understood well enough. Even still, he only brought himself, Hunk, and Allura down to the surface of a jungle planet. There was a higher chance of things going smoothly without their resident hothead and sarcasm supply.

 

They were greeted by an eight feet giant of blue muscle and four arms, as well as seven or so solider-looking individuals. The giant nodded respectfully to the paladins.

 

“The commander would like to see you as soon as possible. Please, follow me.” The giant turned and began walking in long strides.

 

Lance jogged a little to catch up, Allura and Hunk on his heels. The soldiers spread out and surrounded them. They were lead through a campsite with many others milling about, stopping what they were doing occasionally to watch the group pass with suspicious eyes. Lance sent Hunk a look, wondering why they took so much caution when dealing with strangers. Hunk shrugged back, a little bewildered himself. Lance looked to Allura next, who gave him a small smack on the shoulder and a scowl, obviously a warning to behave himself. Lance stuck his tongue out back. He hadn’t even done anything yet.

 

“This is where you go,” the giant said, snapping Lance’s attention forward. “Only the black paladin enters.”

 

They had been lead to a large tent in a campsite. The blue giant held a side up for Lance to duck through. He did so, taking off his helmet as he went. Lance thought there would be a large, burly man, or maybe someone in a suit and glasses. The last thing he expected to see was an older version of Pidge, decked out in blue, orange, silver and black armour, sitting at the head of a small table.

 

Lance couldn’t help but grin and say, “Pidge is going to flip out when they see you, dude.”

 

The male’s face changed for a moment, confused. “Who’s Pidge?”

 

Lance wasn’t paying attention though, already holding his helmet up to his mouth. “Yo, Pidge, get down here. You have to see this.”

 

“You literally told me not to go down unless you were dying.” Pidge deadpanned, voice getting louder as Lance turned up the volume.

 

Matt Holt jolted when he heard Pidge’s voice come through the helmet. “Is that-?”

 

“Trust me, you will love it.”

 

It took a couple more moments of squabbling, and dodging the questions of a stunned Matt, to convince Pidge to catch up to them. As he waited for Pidge to get there, Lance took a seat. Matt looked down, brows furrowed and hands clenched. When he looked back up, Matt’s eyes were a bit clearer.

 

“I have a lot of questions for you.”

 

Lance shifted, motioning towards Matt. “Shoot.”

 

“You’re human, right?” When Lance nodded, Matt shifted. “How’d you get out here? Did earth develop space ships that can reach the ends of the universe in the year or so I’ve been gone?”

 

Lance snorted. “Hardly. Long story short, a giant blue space cat brought my friends and I to Princess Allura and we became the defenders of the universe.”

 

“Me and my friends.” Matt corrected absently, leg jittering. “Was, was that really Katie-?”

 

Lance nodded. “We call ‘em Pidge. They go by gender neutral pronouns now.”

 

“That’s good to know.” Matt looked to the tent opening, eyebrows drawing together. “The guards might not let her, uh, I mean, them?” Lance nodded, and Matt continued. “Might not let them in. I should probably-”

 

The tent flap was lifted, and Matt cut himself off. A small, green figure ducked into the tent. They looked up, mouth open to sass Lance most likely, and hung there. Matt stared back in a similar state of shock.

 

Lance looked between the siblings, an excited grin forming on his lips. Pidge would dive across the table, tackling Matt in a hug, they would both cry, Lance would probably cry too, and the reunion would be beautiful-

 

“Are you wearing my glasses?” Matt blurted.

 

Pidge pushed said glasses up. “Yes, and I wear them better than you.”

 

Matt made his way around the table, plucked the wiry frames from his siblings face, and placed them on his own. He frowned. “Did you pop the prescription lenses out?”

 

“Yeah. How else was I supposed to see through them? You’re blind as a bat.”

 

“What the heck Katie.”

 

Well that was thoroughly disappointing. Lance’s shoulders slumped. Pidge wasn’t the dramatic type, so he should have expected this. Still, even a small ‘I missed you’ and a hug would have satisfied Lance at this point. What he got instead was Pidge lightly punching Matt in the stomach, not bothering to take their hand away, and Matt ruffling Pidge’s hair. Both definitely had tears in their eyes that they were desperately blinking away.

 

Lance sighed, but felt the corners of his mouth quirk up. Well, he supposed this was their version of a touching reunion. He stood, catching the Holt sibling’s attention.

 

“So,” he started, clapping, “should we get to work on this alliance?”

 

* * *

  


Going into battle was nerve wracking, no matter how many times Lance did it. He always allowed his mind to flitter to all worst case scenario’s beforehand, so he had a better chance of clearing his mind during. His feet would carry him throughout the ship- pacing always helped him think- until he cleared his head. It never really mattered where he went, as long as he was in the hangers ten minutes before they left.

 

The plan was simple. Maybe too simple. Hunk had made a good point when he said that if they made it too complex, then people would get confused. But the back up plans were flimsy at best, and the actual plan had plenty of holes. Apparently the rebels never really worked with concrete plans, just loose ideas and improvised as they went and things usually worked out for them. The same went for some of the Mamora members, much to Kolivan’s ire. So did Keith, if Lance was being honest, which worried him.

 

Luckily, Lance was paranoid. He had several escape plans in mind, though none would ensure everyone’s safety. If worst came to worst, it was better than them all getting captured. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

 

Lance held in a breath, going through several breathing exercises to keep his nerves at bay. He knew the probability of everyone making it back safe was low, Slav even said so himself. And truth be told, he wasn’t going for a flawless victory. He was aiming to get his space family to safety in one piece with the means to retrieve their missing member.

 

Lance felt so selfish for that.

 

With a few final deep breaths to loosen his tight chest, Lance made his way back to the hangers. Black purred when he entered, kneeling and opening her mouth instantly. Lance smiled and patted her jaw before clambering in.

 

He settled into the seat, slid his helmet on, and pulled up the screens of his teammates. Hunk was the first to greet him, as per usual, with the others close on his heels. Lance smiled, then turned his sights on Coran.

 

“How long until launch?”

 

“Just a few doboshes,” came the calm reply, “Kolivan will call us as a signal to attack.”

 

Lance nodded. The worms in his gut twisted and tightened. He distracted himself with a conversation with his team. There was a buzz behind the chatter, lingering energy behind their darling eyes and tapping fingers. Allura laughed breathily.

 

“If Hunk keeps fidgeting I feel he might accidentally warp there without us.” She teased lightly.

 

Hunk’s hands shot away from the controls, panic making him pale. “Don’t even joke about that.”

 

“Yeah, Hunk would never.” Lance looked around dramatically before leaning in and placing a hand to the side of his mouth, stage whispering. “I say it’s Pidge we have to worry about.”

 

“Hey!” They shouted indigenously.

 

“They have done it before.” Allura agreed, eyeing Pidge with clearly faked suspicion.

 

“That was one time!” Pidge tossed their hands up.  

 

Allura and Lance share a grin. She had really loosened up since becoming Blue’s Paladin, learning how to make jokes at appropriate times. They were still a little hard to catch, but it was progress. Lance had stopped making so many jokes unprompted, since he had to be the one to make everyone focus, but he was more than happy to jump in when someone else started it.

 

Allura opened her mouth, a teasing glint in her eyes, but was cut off by Coran’s excited shout.

 

“I got the call! It's time to move out!”

 

The mood immediately sombered. Lance grasped the controls, meeting eyes with his team. “Let’s do this, team.”

 

There were shouts of affirmation, and they took off.

 

* * *

 

 

“We’re in.” Pidge related, locating and hooking up to the nearest console. “I’ll need a moment to hack into the cameras and doors, but after that we should be good to go.”

 

“Shouldn’t we get you to a control room or something?” Keith whispered.

 

“No need.” Pidge reached up to their arm, flipping the compartment open and pressing a button. They shimmered for a moment before fading out of sight. “I’ve got it covered.”

 

“We should go soon, ship hacked or not.” Allura glanced down the hall. “Sentries might approach soon.”

 

Keith glanced to the few Mamora members with them. “Should we split up?”

 

“Not yet. I’ll need someone to get into the surveillance room at one point and secure it for me, but until then we shouldn’t split our focus.” Pidge said, distractedly, before cheering. “And we’re in! Head down this hall and take a left.”

 

Keith, Allura, and the few Mamora members darted down the hall, all on silent feet, further hidden by the sounds of battle outside. . Pidge worked quickly, mumbling to themselves before giving them direction. All of the halls looked almost identical, probably designed that way to confuse enemy troops. They stopped and ducked behind a corner, waiting for some sentries to pass before waiting for further instruction. Instead, Pidge cursed.

 

“Pidge?Are you alright?” Allura frowned.

 

“I’m fine. The empire detected my hack, I’m gonna have to move to a different console.” Pidge grumbled under their breath, then there was the sound of footsteps. “Luckily I covered my tracks enough for them to not know if the hack happened from inside or outside. Give me a second.” There was a few moments of silence. “Okay. There should be a ventilation shaft a little ways down the hallway. Go through that slowly. Come out of it three floors down. You should be able to tell how many floors you’ve gone from how many other grates you pass.”

 

There was a shout through the coms as they made their way to the shaft. The extraction team, who had been doing their best to ignore the chatter from the outside battle, winced.

 

“Lance? Hunk? What’s happening out there?”

 

Lance grunted, swerving around shots from the ships around him while trying to retaliate, trading between the lasers and jawblade. “We’re alright. Hunk took a nasty hit, gave us a scare, but he’s okay.”

 

“Speak for yourself.” Hunk mumbled, face green in the video feed.

 

Lance gave him a sympathetic shrug. “How are things going in there?”

 

“We’re almost at the reactor.” Allura said, followed by a series of odd thumps. “Should have it within half a varga.”

 

“Try making that fifteen doboshes!” Matt grunted, his small fleet darting in front of Blue and pelting the Empire with blasts. “They’re pulling out the big guns, and I’m not sure how long we’ll last against that!”

 

He was right. The front panel of the ship Keith, Allura, Pidge and Mamora members were in had slid open. A large ion cannon slid forward, and started charging. Lance glanced at the battle grid, lips pressing thin when he saw the cannon was aimed for the ship.

 

“Coran, what are the readings on that thing?”

 

“Not good!” Coran shouted. “It’s powerful enough to take out our shields in one blow! Luckily, it takes quite some time to charge up!”

 

“Hunk, concentrate fire on that and see if you can break it. Matt, try drawing fire away from him.” Lance moved Black through the throng of battle cruisers, sliding under the battleship. “Kolivan-”

 

“I’m ordering some of my men in the ship to find the control room and try deactivating it from inside.”

 

Lance nodded, turning Black around to shoot at some cruisers tailing him before taking off again. “Allura, do you think you guys can speed up progress?”

 

“Not by much.” Allura raced to a door at the end of the hall. “We’re just approaching the room with the nuclear reactor. Who knows how long it’ll take to get out?”

 

Keith pushed his hand to the sensor, and the door slid open. He ducked in, then stopped. “Shit.”

 

“What is it?” Lance sounded tired, but Keith could hardly focus on that.

 

Allura came in behind Keith, eyes blowing wide. “We are not going to be able to find the correct mechanism quickly.”

 

The room was filled with tech, all looking just as important as the last, none standing out. All were whirring, sending a cacophony into the air. Keith tried hard to ignore that and focus on finding the one that held the nuclear reactor. Both he and Allura looked to each other, overwhelmed.

 

“Pidge, please tell me you can hack the room or something?” Keith looked back to everything, brows furrowing.

 

“It doesn’t work like that. You’ll have to find the thing yourself. Once you do, hook up the chip I gave you into whatever looks like a control panel.”

 

Allura looked to the three Mamora members who hadn’t doubled back to find the control room. “You know what we’re looking for, correct?”

 

They nodded, then sprang into action, each going a different way. Allura and Keith followed suit.

 

Lance, a little annoyed the extraction team hadn’t given him a clear answer, turned his attention to destroying the cruisers in front of him. “How are things going with the cannon buddy?”

 

Hunk huffed, slamming into the ion cannon again. “It’s no use. This thing’s made with something a thousand times denser than steel.”

 

“How about your soldiers, Kolivan?”

 

“They’re unable to safely infiltrate the control room.”

 

“Perfect.” He muttered.

 

He darted out from under the ship, taking out his jaw blade and slicing through some cruisers in his way of the second of three battle ships. He slammed the bayard into its slot, summoning the blade wings. Hunk rolled up next to him, charging a blast to cover Lance. Lance put Black into a tailspin, doing as much high velocity damage to the ship as possible. Hunk, who was picking off cruisers, whooped.

 

“Nice one Lance!”

 

“Thanks bud. Watch your six!”

 

“On it!” Hunk turned and slammed Yellow into one cruiser, sending it spiraling into the next.

 

“How the heck can you two destroy these things so easily?” Matt grumbled, performing a dive roll to avoid fire before pulling up to retaliate. “Whatever they’re made of, they’re made to last.”

 

“We have pieces of Voltron.” Lance reminded him smugly. “Our lions are literally made to destroy anything that opposes them.”

 

“Not fair!” Matt whined, pulling up beside them.

 

“Any new ideas on how to take out that cannon?” Hunk’s eyes darted across the sky nervously before meeting Lances.

 

“I’m working on it.”

 

“We might want to wait for Keith and Allura to get out.” Matt suggested. “Then you guys can form Voltron.”

 

“Unless they can get out in ten doboshes, that won’t happen.” Coran’s frantic voice cut through. “The cannon won’t take longer than that!”

 

“We might be able to.” Allura frowned at the contraption in front of her. “We found the nuclear reactor, and Keith inserted Pidge’s chip, but it’s too big to carry out.”

 

“Then we won’t have to.” Pidge grinned down at their work. “The blueprints are all here, I can download them and we can recreate the machine and adapt it. There’s only one part of it we won’t be able to, and that’s the core, since it’s quintessence powered. If you’re careful, you should be able to dismantle it and take out the core after the blueprints download.”

 

Keith grinned. “You’re a genius, Pidge.”

 

“I know.” Came the smug reply.

 

Pidge gave them the okay to break the nuclear reactor apart a few moments later. Allura stepped forward, gripped one of the side panels, and with a ripple of barely contained muscle under her skin, the metal under her hands ripped away easily. The Mamora members got to work make precise cuts in the wires and metal to clear the way for where Pidge said the core was.

 

“Hold on, the cannon’s charging has slowed. We have another ten to fifteen doboshes added to our time!” Coran cried, astonished.

 

“The reactor was probably a large part of what powered the cannon.” Pidge explained. “This also means whatever troops are still in the ship have been alerted to our infiltration. We need to speed this up.”

 

Keith reached into the reactor. “We’ve almost got the core.” He gripped what felt like grated sides and slowly slid out a warm, glowing, humming core just small enough to carry in one’s arms. “It’s smaller than I thought it’d be.”

 

“We need to start moving.” Allura looked around the room. “Pidge, is there anyway to get back to your location safely?”

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll come to you.” Pidge disengaged from the panel they had been at, looking down the hall before heading towards the ventilation shaft the others had used.

 

“Be careful.” Allura summoned her bayard, a staff that could disconnect at several places to become a whip-like weapon, facing the entrance as a group of Galran soldiers poured into the room. “Now that Zarkon’s troops are aware of our movements, it will be more difficult to reach us.”

 

“Gotcha.” Pidge glanced down at the layout they’d downloaded, their jog stuttering. A string of curses left their mouth.

 

“What happened?” Keith ducked behind an engine of some sort as a spray of lasers were shot from Zarkon’s forces, core clutched to his chest with one arm.

 

“There are _prisoners._ ” Pidge hissed. “How did we overlook that? There’s a bunch of cells one floor up from you, and lifesigns suggest about seven captured at least.”

 

“ _Shit.”_ Keith slipped around the side of the engine and swung at the closest Galra as they advanced, taking them down quickly. “Allura, take the core. I’ll go get the prisoners.”

 

“Keith, what if it’s a trap?” Allura detached the sections of her staff, swinging it around the side of her own cover and cracking the end across two Galrans faces. “It seems too odd that we’d miss something so blatant as prisoners, then just realise as Zarkon’s soldiers became aware of our presence. They might have deliberately hidden that from the maps, in case of intrusion, then allowed us to see it to lure us away from our objective.”

 

“Allura’s right,” Lance cut in, “wait for backup before you go rushing in.”

 

“We don’t have that kind of time.” Keith shot back, already slipping past any soldiers he could, relying on the Mamora members to watch the core he’d set down. “I’ll grab the prisoners while the others get the core and blueprints out of here. You won’t even know I’m missing.”

 

“Keith,” Lance growled dangerously, “wait. For. Backup. You don’t know what you’ll be walking into.”

 

Keith slid under the grasping hands and blades of the troops, spinning on his knees to stand. He continued the twirling motion to sweep his own blade across the few soldiers in his way, sliding his Mamora blade out to join the battle. He crossed them to block a swing, shouting when another Galra took the opening to shoot him in the side. His armour took the brunt of the blow, but Keith could still feel his nerves scream from the heat of the laser. He gritted his teeth and kicked the one with the blade away, turning to slash the one who shot him across the face before continuing to run for the door. Red urged him on, a deep, satisfied rumble in the corner of his consciousness.

 

“I’m not taking the chance that we don’t rescue them.” He reached up for his helmet as he approached the vent.

 

“Keith, don’t you dare! Keith? Keith!” Lance’s lips pressed thin when he saw Keith go offline. Black roared in his mind at the insubordination, chastising Red for the encouragement she was providing.

 

“I’ll go after him.” Pidge found the vent and started going down it, only sliding two floors down before exiting through the already kicked in grate. “He can’t be that far. Allura, make sure you get the core back to our lions.”

 

“Be careful.” Allura took the offered core from the Mamora member who grabbed it from where Keith left it. “You know how Keith can get, and I’d rather not have to drag your lions back to the ship empty. Goodness knows how hard it’ll be to find new paladins who work well with us.”

 

Pidge snorted. “Dark humour, princess. Nice. I’ll try to keep us alive.”

 

Keith hovered around the halls, unsure of where to go. He cursed himself for turning off the coms, making it impossible to get Pidge to give him directions, but Lance was being difficult. He debated turning the comms back on. He didn’t really want to, since that would be like admitting defeat. Keith scowled down the hall.

 

A hand came down on Keith’s shoulder and he almost stabbed whoever it was. Keith was grateful that he missed when he saw it was Pidge, who was backing up with their hands up.

 

“Hold the punches, it’s just me.”

 

Keith let out a breath, leveling Pidge with a half-hearted glare. “Don’t sneak up on people like that. Especially once we get Shiro back. He might just punch you.”

 

Pidge shrugged, a sly grin crossing their lips, before schooling their expression. “So, what’s the plan for the prisoners?”

 

Keith’s gaze flicked to down the hall, then back to Pidge. “... I hadn’t gotten that far.”

 

Pidge huffed, amused. “Let me guess, you were just going to wing it?”

 

“... Maybe.”

 

“You do realize Allura and Lance are most likely right, and this is a trap.”

 

Keith frowned deeply at them. “...Yes.”

 

“Then let me take the lead.” Pidge slid past Keith, making their way down the hall. “We need to observe the area and take stock before rushing in, identify the main threats and all that.”

 

Keith fell into step with them. “Don’t you find it odd that there’s no surveillance or guards here at all, even though they know we’re going for the prisoners?”

 

Pidge nodded. “That’s why I’m saying to take it slow. We don’t know what they have waiting for us.”  

 

As they approached the door, Keith and Pidge ducked low. They dashed to the wall, creeping along it until they reached the doorway. Keith raised a brow at Pidge, lifting a hand and motioning to the pad. Pidge narrowed their eyes, then nodded. Keith nodded back, placing his hand on the pad. The door opened with a small sound.

 

Pidge peered through, brows furrowing. They glanced down at the map before looking back into the room. “This is- that room isn’t a cell block. Whatever it is, it’s a lot bigger than what’s on my grid.”

 

Keith looked in as well, seeing a railing and a drop off, probably to the rest of the room. The walkway went around the perimeter. “They really put a lot of effort into it. Do you think they expected us to rush right in?”

 

“That’s what you were about to do.” Pidge pointed out.

 

Keith shot them a glare. Pidge grinned innocently. Keith rolled his eyes and, still in a crouch, crept up to the railing. Pidge hovered in the doorway. Keith placed a hand on the railing and leaned over the edge a bit to get a better view.

 

The room was circular, lowering one floor down for the main space. Huddled in the centre was a group of prisoners, recognisable by their prison uniforms, with no guards and a door. Keith frowned, scanning the area for anything else, but ultimately seeing nothing. He looked back at Pidge, shrugging, and they shuffled over as well.

 

“This is either a really well thought out, hidden trap,” Pidge deployed a small scanner that silently traversed the room without being noticed before returning to Pidge, showing they picked up nothing, “or they’re really bad at this.”

 

The door shut behind them and the floors tilted, slowly starting to hinge into the walls. Keith and Pidge shouted, grabbing onto the railing and hanging off when the floor became the walls. Keith’s weapons dropped to the ground. The prisoners looked up at them, eyes blowing wide and shouting for them to get out, motioning to something above them. Keith swallowed, allowing his gaze to slowly raise.

 

“Oh fuck.”

 

 _Whatever_ was on the ceiling- a nine-foot metal Venom copy in purples and greys instead of black- made both a screech and a rumble at them, claws digging into the walls. It let go, twisting as it dropped and landing on the railing only a few feet away from the paladins. Pidge slowly looked at Keith, the thing behind them, and spoke as calmly as they could.

 

“Turn on your coms.”

 

“But we’re hanging from-”

 

“Keith, we very well might die here. Turn. On. Your. Communications.”

 

Keith sighed, tilting his head and trying to hit the button with his arm. After a few moments, it worked.

 

“Lance,” Keith began, avoiding looking at the oddly patient monstrosity, “can you tear the ship apart to get to us and a handful of prisoners?”

 

There was the sound of a deep breath being taken. “I’ll be there in five.”

 

“Wait, we’re almost done there.” Allura cut in. “I can reach our lions and drop them off near the area.”

 

Pidge pressed their lips thin. “We might need the cold, unforgiving hands of space to claim us and kill something, but sure.”

 

“What? What's that something?” Hunk flashed through many bad situations. “Are you guys okay?”

 

“Not sure yet. We’ll get back to you on that.”

 

Keith slowly looked back up at the thing. It stared back. Well, it's face was turned in his direction, but it's eyes were milky white. Keith took a breath, judged his distance from the ground, and dropped.

 

The thing lunged after him.

 

The prisoners scrambled to the opposite wall as Keith rolled after landing. The thing crashed down where he had been. He frantically located his blade and bayard, both behind the thing. Keith cursed.

 

“Pidge, can you go over to the door and hack it open?”

 

“If you keep that thing distracted.” Pidge dropped down, turned on their invisibility and disappeared.

 

Keith looked back at the mecha-Venom, waving his arms. “Hey ugly, over here!”

 

It screech-rumbled at him again, leaping. Keith darted to the side, attempting to run around it. He ducked under a swipe, lunging for his weapons. He was caught by the legs, whipped around and slammed into the wall. Keith felt his breath whoosh out of him, leaving him gasping as he fell to the ground. He stumbled to his feet, vision spotty.

 

The mecha-Venom lunged at him again. Keit ignored his protesting back and dive rolled to the side, a few feet away from his weapons. He managed to just grasp his Mamora blade when a fist was brought down on his back. Keith cried out, slamming back into the floor. His com exploded with concerned shouts. He pushed himself up on shaking limbs, activating his blade and swinging it around just as another fist was coming down. He sliced through the layers of metal along the fingers, and the mech let out a metallic screech and pulled away. Keith used the opportunity to grab his bayard and start to put distance between him and it.

 

“Keith, bud, come on, give us an update!”

 

Keith coughed before replying to Hunk. “I’m okay. There’s a mech, I’m holding it off until Pidge gets the prisoners in here out. Speaking of which.”

 

“They put everything they had into making sure this door wouldn’t open.” Pidge responded, eyes and fingers flying across the keys. “It’ll take me a little while more to open.”

 

Keith sighed and turned back to the mech, which was looking towards him with what Keith assumed to be fury. “As soon as you get it open, get the prisoners out.”

 

“Gotcha.”

 

Keith took a breath, activated his bayard, and charged the mech.

 

Allura ducked into her lion, nodding to the Mamora members as she did. Blue purred in concern when she felt the bruises Allura had accumulated. She waved the concern away, clambering into the pilot’s chair and placing the core reactor at her feet.

 

“I’m going to drop the reactor off in Green. Pidge might want to get a good look at it right away. Then we need to take Red and Green over to where their paladins are, okay?”

 

Blue rumbled.

 

Allura nodded, taking the controls and dislodging Blue’s claws from the ship.

 

“Once you’re done with that, can you come help us destroy these cruisers? They’re really annoying at this point.” Lance grumbled.

 

Allura jumped a little, forgetting the others could hear her. “Oh, yes. Right away.”

 

There was a pained groan from the coms. Allura winced in sympathy.

 

“Pidge, please tell me the door is open.”

 

“Just a little more.” Pidge grumbled back, tense, hands shaking slightly. She didn’t dare look behind her.

 

Keith, pulling himself up off the floor again, wobbled. “It’s like fighting the Gladiator for the first time all over again. Except this time I might die.”

 

As if to prove Keith’s point, the mech backhanded him into a wall. Keith pushed himself off of it, turning and managing to stab into the mech’s shoulders with both blades and keep it away when it tried to charge him. His arms shook with the strain. The mech was slowly inching closer, arms reaching to grab him.

 

“It’s open!”

 

Keith didn’t need to be told twice. He yanked his weapons out of the creature, so suddenly it stumbled, and ducked under it’s legs. Keith shouted and ushered the prisoners out into the hall, all of whom gratefully darted past, before limping after. Pidge ran at the head of the group, shouting directions. The mech screeched behind them, and there was the sound of thuds and things breaking. Keith didn’t dare look back, and encouraged those in front of him to do the same.

 

“Allura left the lions outside of the airlock right ahead of us. One of us is going to have to go out, grab our lion, and jam the head back in so the prisoners can be led aboard!”

 

“I’ll do it. Get the prisoners past the airlock.”

 

Pidge did so. Keith stopped right before going in, turning. Sure enough, the mecha-Venom was stumbling down the hallway towards them. Keith, blades still in hand, waited for it to get within range then slammed all of his weight into it, causing it to stumble into the airlock. He drove one knife into it and the other into the control panel. The airlock opened. Keith gritted his teeth against the pull of space, holding onto the knife in the control panel tightly. The thing was ripped off of his other weapon, weight contributing to its quick and efficient end, spiraling off into space. Keith waited for the pressure to balance out, feeling his ears pop and being endlessly glad that the suits helped regulate pressure, then dislodged his other blade and started his way towards Red.

 

Lance watched Red and Green join back in the battle, relieved to see they were alright. He’d have to have a strong word with Keith about his rebellious streaks, but it payed off this time, so he wouldn’t push it immediately. He turned his attention to the remaining problems.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something shine. Lance glanced at what it was. It was some sort of metal creature, kind of like the others Haggar had sent after them. The ones with hidden special moves. This one seemed to as well. Lance felt dread fill up in him.

 

“Uh, guys?”

 

The others followed his line of sight. Keith cursed. The thing was growing, holes opening in it’s legs and arms for small propellers to come out, maneuvering it properly in space. After it was done folding itself out, metal sliding to extend the thing, it towered over their lions.

 

“Uh, what’s that and what’s it doing?!”

 

“It’s the thing Keith fought in the ship. I think it’s adapting to space!”

 

“Mecha-Venom is really tough, guys, so be careful.”

 

Lance shot Keith an incredulous look. “The what-now?”

 

“Mecha-Venom.”

 

“Venom from, like, Marvel? Why?”

 

Keith went to reply when a beam blasted from the thing’s mouth, sending the lions scattering. Hunk grunted when Yellow was clipped. Allura and Keith went at it simultaneously, blasting it with ice and fire, but the thing didn’t so much as slow down. It batted one long arm at Blue, who barely avoided it. Pidge shot a blast at it, but the mech batted the blast aside. Hunk rammed into it the same time Lance tried raking his claws down it’s back. There was only a dent and scratch marks.

 

“Oh man, we might be out of our league.” Hunk whined, turning pale.

 

“Matt and Kolivan are busy taking on the main ships, too, so we won’t be getting back up this time.” Pidge didn’t sound so confident either.

 

“None of our attacks affected it.” Allura tapped her nails quickly on Blue’s controls. “What do we do?”

 

“We have to form Voltron. I wasn’t able to take it alone, in our out of lion, but we might be able to take it together.” Keith looked each of them in the eye, determination burning hot.

 

“Keith is right. Come on, team. We can do this. Let’s form Voltron!” Lance shouted.

 

“Right!” Came his team’s reply as their bonds strengthened, pulling each lion to their proper place.

 

As soon as Voltron was formed, and Lance was in the centre of the hurricane once more, they summoned their sword. The ‘mecha-Venom’ as Keith had put it screeched, flying at them with an outstretched, clawed hand. Voltron met it with their sword, pushing. They swung and separated, coming back at a different angle and stabbing the mech through its shoulder. It screeched again, charging up a blast. Voltron retreated, allowing their sword to disappear, and ducked under the beam of energy. The mech didn’t let up, continuing to send blasts, forcing Voltron further and further away.

 

“Shoulder cannon!” Lance shouted, and the next moment, the familiar weight of their ion blaster materialized.

 

They met the next shot with their own. They began forcing the mech back, advancing, until it couldn’t keep up with them. Voltron blasted out it’s legs. It flailed a bit, attempting to charge a blast, but sending itself rolling backwards when it shot.

 

Voltron switched back to the sword. Everyone shouted as they charged the mech, stabbing it through the chest. It twitched and malfunctioned, slowly overheating. Allura placed blue next to the sword, and with the remainder of her anger, kicked the mecha-Venom away from them and into the centre of the enemy ships. Matt and Kolivan pulled their forces back.

 

The team whooped and cheered as the super mech exploded, taking out the remaining ships with it. Voltron split apart. Keith made sure his passengers were okay, to which they confirmed they were with starry eyes. Pidge looked the core over, making sure it wasn’t cracked, letting out a breath when they saw it was undamaged. Allura was shouting compliments and praises, allowing herself to crack a few jokes here and there. Lance sat back, sharing a tired grin with Hunk. They had done good.

 

A wormhole opened, cutting the celebrations off abruptly. One Empire fighter came through, then another, then another. By the time the wormhole closed, there was another ten battle ships ready to go. Lance swallowed, checking his and his teams lions. They couldn’t take much more. Neither could the castle. They had their objective, it would be best to retreat. Lance didn’t like the idea, but knew it was for the best.

 

“They called backup.” Lance grimaced. “Allura, get back to the ship and charge up a jump.”

 

“On it.” Blue darted away, flying to the castle as quickly as she could.

 

“Keith, Pidge, you two go back too.” They started to rise their protests, but Lance’s glare made them fall silent. “Keith, you have prisoners, and Pidge, you have the core. Go. Back.”

 

Pidge hesitated, looking down at the glowing mechanism at their feet, before nodding and turning Green towards the castle to dock. Red roared, darting forwards in protest, fueled by the determination Keith had burning. He ignored the yelps behind him.

 

“I’m not leaving you.” Keith said fiercely.

 

Lance pulled Black in front of Red, staring through his and Keith’s windshields to stare him down. “Keith, think of the lives behind you. If something goes wrong now, and you get hit heavily, what do you think will happen to the people not in armour? The people who have nothing to hold onto, nothing to keep them safe, no control at all?”

 

Keith looked back, eyes wide and desperate. Lance felt his anger soften.

 

“It’s okay Keith. You’re not abandoning me. I’ll be fine.”

 

_I won’t disappear like Shiro._

 

A myriad of emotions flickered through Keith’s expression before it settled back on determination. He gave a tight nod, and turned Red around. Lance felt a breath leave him as he watched Red enter the castle hangers, safe and sound. Yellow flew up next to Black, gently nudging the Pride leader with her shoulder.

 

“Come on, buddy.” Hunk, with true fear in his eyes, gave Lance the brightest, bravest smile he could muster. “Let’s protect our friends.”

 

Lance gave him what he hoped was a just as brave smile. “Right.”

 

They turned to face the ships, lions sending twin waves of energy and encouragement. Lance gripped the controls, mouth setting into a grim smile.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

The next moments went by in a blur. Lance and Hunk, keeping the battalion at bay. Allura, using all of her energy to put as much space between the Empire and Voltron. Keith, rushing the prisoners to the healing pods as quickly as he could. Pidge, rushing the core to their room for experimentation. Coran, balancing the power levels so everything was able to function properly.

 

Lance called for the other forces to retreat while they could. Kolivan pulled his troops back as quickly as he was able, nodding to Lance before slinking through his own small wormhole with his troops. Matt followed Kolivan, shouting that he’d check in soon to visit Pidge. Allura was able to make a wormhole not long after.

 

Lance and Hunk began moving after the castleship. They were almost to the wormhole when a ship got close. Too close. Close enough to follow them. Lance turned, prepared to face off with it. Hunk followed suit, closer to the wormhole, but willing to support his best friend for as long as he needed to.

 

It was taking too long to ward them off. At this rate, Lance and Hunk would be stranded. Lance looked to Yellow. He thought of how her paladin had (unwittingly and unwillingly) followed him into space. Of how he wouldn’t let Lance get into trouble by himself whenever Lance snuck out. Of how he would follow Lance to the ends of the universe, quite literally, if Lance asked him to. Of how he would never turn his back on Lance.

 

Lance made a split second decision, so impulsive he could practically feel Red purr with pride, and slammed Black into Yellow so hard that the most armoured lioness tumbled backwards into the wormhole. Hunk shouted, confused and scared. The others started to  raise their voices as well.

 

Lance felt Black’s mind wander, going as far back as when they first partnered up. Lance felt her pride and happiness for how far he’d come, as well as sadness for what she knew they were doing. Lance turned her towards the Galra once more, smiling and mumbling to get her attention despite the glare he fixed on the Empire’s ships. She snapped back, growling and tapping into her energy reserves.

 

The wormhole, with how large the stretch took, would need five doboshes to allow the others to come out on the other side and to close. They needed to buy their family more time.

 

“Let’s give them hell.”

 

Black roared.

 

* * *

 

Haggar sat by her Emperor’s side, hands laid carefully in her lap. She watched the slow, raspy rise and fall of his chest. He didn’t have long now. His quintessence was almost spent. He had been fighting for so long, aided by whatever Haggar was able to think of, but nothing was good enough to heal his wounds and wake him from his coma. She slowly followed the tubes filled with glowing gold liquid that entered Zarkon’s arm with her eyes, up to the IV drip. There was hardly any left. Maybe a few doboshes. Maybe less. She trailed her gaze back to Zarkon.

 

There was a tube shoved down his throat, connected to a whirring machine, helping him breathe. It was a sorry sight, a tragic fate to fall the most powerful man in the entirety of the universe. How he would have loathed to see himself like this, weak, vulnerable, clinging desperately to the last dregs of life. It was hardly a befitting for once such as himself, someone Haggar had sworn her everlasting loyalty to since the fall of her home planet. Someone with passion and conviction that put a thousand suns to shame. Someone she held so dear throughout the thousands of years she’d spent by his side.

 

Haggar felt her lip begin to tremble and clamped her teeth down on the offending skin. She would not cry. She would not dare to. As her Emperor had taught her, shown her, emotions were a sign of weakness. Only anger and grim or sly satisfaction were appropriate to show in his Empire. She would hold true to it, even when he was not here to ensure it stayed. She would become the new enforcer of his teachings in his place. He did trust her best.

 

The door behind her slid open with a gentle breeze, and light footsteps approached. Haggar knew who it was without the need to look up.

 

“He doesn’t have long, does he?” Prince Lotor asked her in a whisper.

 

“No.” She did not move. “It would be best we allow him to pass with dignity.”

 

Prince Lotor was silent, but she knew he understood. He stepped forward, hand shaking as he reached for the ventilator, and switched it off. The whirring stopped. Haggar removed the IV from his arm as the Prince gently slid the tube out from his father’s throat. They placed the equipment aside, then watched their ruler as he began to fade.

 

First, the ever constant movement behind his eyelids began to cease. Next, the muscles that would twitch stopped their persistent struggle. His breath stuttered, stopping for longer intervals, before his heart must have given out. There was a slow whoosh, the exhale of one's soul leaving their body.

 

Zarkon, the Emperor of the Galra, was pronounced dead doboshes before a soldier came to inform them of the new Black Paladin’s capture. In the time between, Lotor weeped.

 

Zarkon had never been the best father, or the most attentive, or had ever been proud of him, but he had raised Lotor. That had to count for something.

 

Haggar didn’t move to comfort the boy, but she didn’t move to leave either. She stood, still as a statue, as she attempted to control her own grief.

 

When they were informed of the capture, her grief channelled to fuel her hatred.

 

Lotor felt horror add to his own mourning, and couldn’t stop the insistent bound of never-ceasing tears if he wanted to.

 

* * *

 

When Lance only had two doboshes left before the portal closed, he slumped back in his seat, allowing a startled Black to take over the controls. He rubbed his face, gazing out at the persistent fleet, knowing only one thing would slow them enough to delay them from going through the portal. He knew there was only one thing that would simultaneously keep Voltron safe. And so, with a deep breath, Lance started setting up what needed to be done.

 

“Okay, girl,” Lance started, brushing his hands comfortingly across Black’s controls as he continued, “it’s time to play dead.”

 

Black positively _screamed,_ refusing, commanding him to stop, knowing damn well that he wouldn’t. Lance pressed his lips thin and turned her off. She shuttered as she powered down, unable to do anything, and whimpered once before she fell asleep. Lance felt sick with himself. It was the same feeling he had when he had to put down his childhood cat back in Cuba. He whispered an apology, thick with tears, and watched the ships approach.

 

A tractor beam appeared, like an old school alien movie. Lance would have laughed if the feeling of being dragged up wasn’t so terrifying. He turned his head and felt immense relief when he saw the wormhole close, cutting off his connection with his team and making the coms go eerily silent. He was glad they were safe, but in that moment, he had never been more scared or lonely.

 

“Sorry, Keith.” Lance took a shaky breath, eyes squeezing shut. “I can’t keep that promise.”

 

He was sucked into what he assumed were the prisoner docks. He powered Black up just enough to do what was necessary, but not enough to bring her back online. With a shaky breath, he grinned, and hit the button as he sealed his fate.

 

“Hey Shiro. If you’re watching this, then you’re back. Congrats, man!”

 

* * *

 

Shiro couldn't think. He didn't have time to. He had to act on instinct, dodging and blocking and attacking with no real strategy or goal. It was tiring. A trade of blows without a purpose. He just wanted to sleep.

 

Zarkon never softened, or weakened, so Shiro refused to as well. But the hits slowly became less and less corporeal. Zarkon became harder to see. He became transparent, but still fought, going at Shiro with everything he had. Finally, he began breaking off into starlight until all that was left was the silence.

 

Shiro stood there for a long time, remembering how to think. It had been months- years, maybe- since he did anything but fight Zarkon. He wasn't sure what he was before. Was he anything before? All he knew was this blank oasis, where nothing existed except him.

 

He looked down, lifting his hands into view. One of them was metal. He flexed it. There was something important about this. He felt it was important. It felt important. It faded, significance evaporating as quickly as it came. There was no significance here.

 

Shiro was alone, the astral plane having eaten away at his mind long, long ago.

**Author's Note:**

> ...... *quiet sobs*
> 
> It took me a month to finish this. Another in advance to plan it. I really, really hope it's good enough for the wait. I can't thank you all enough for your patience, kindness, and support while I'm writing this series. This is by far the longest update so far, but it won't be the only very long one like this, so look forward to those. 
> 
> The next one is going to be short and fluffy, because I need something that doesn't take so much effort and you all need something not as angsty. So I'm excited for that! 
> 
> I'm extremely proud of this series, but it would be nothing without all of you. The ones who motivate me, who keep me on track, who encourage my achievements and correct my mistakes. You are my ultimate support, so thank you all for being here. You're all so brilliant, and I can't thank you enough. I'd like to think of this as the late, late, LATE 200 bookmark milestone update. This is for all of us to enjoy. 
> 
> And with that, I bid you all a fond farewell until next week. Stay awesome~!!!


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